In his piece, Rothman takes a stand that will be unpopular with many in the books world: when everything gets a 5-star rating, the honor no longer means anything. The stars are worthless. Like “two thumbs up — waaaaaaay up.”

We’re talking something that goes well beyond books and publishing, of course. For years, professional critics at major newspapers, in particular, fought hard to keep star-ratings out of their reviews. Not only do these systems diminish readership for critiques, themselves (people just count the stars and go) but they also reduce cultural events to commodities. This logic has little sway over advertisers who want to sponsor a star rating because it’s “easy” (or worse, “E-Z”) to use in making that snap judgment

If you come from an arts background, you know that applying the same rating to a novel and a lawn mower is like mild Kafka.